The Quiet Sun, Part 61
Edward John Craig
Planet Gore
Fred Dardick in the Canada Free Press:
<<< During a typical year one might expect to record anywhere from 60 up to more than 150 sunspots during solar maximum, with many lasting for days. In 2008 only about a total of30 sunspots were recorded including 266 days with no sunspots at all visible on the sun’s surface, a trend that continues to this very day. It’s been described as the “the quietest sun we’ve seen in almost a century,” by David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.
In addition to a lack of sunspots, recent measurements indicate a 50-year low in solar wind pressure and a 12-year low in solar brightness.
In 1991 Danish meteorologists Eigil Friis-Christensen and Knud Lassen published a highly referenced paper titled “Length of the Solar Cycle: An Indicator of Solar Activity Closely Associated with Climate.” They pointed out the strong correlation between the length of the Schwabe solar cycle and global mean temperatures. They noted that longer cycles of 12-14 years produced cooler global temperatures and short 9-10 year cycles led to warmer climates.
A New York Times review of the paper said “While the correlation established by Dr. Friis-Christensen and Dr. Lassen falls short of definite proof, a number of scientists nevertheless called it remarkable in its close fit between the solar and temperature trends.” . . .
An extreme example of the correlation between solar activity and Earth temperature occurred between 1645 and 1715 during the Maunder Minimum, a 70 year period characterized by a nearly complete absence of sunspots which coincided with the “Little Ice Age” in Europe, a time of especially long and cold winters.
Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona has been tracking a jet stream deep inside the sun. According to recent scientific theory, once the stream reaches a specific latitude, which it is now approaching, it may be an indication of the onset of a new cycle of sunspot activity. However, there is no way to predict exactly when this will occur. While the sun’s activity may pick up in the next 6 to 12 months, it is just as likely the sun will remain in a quiet state for a good deal longer.
In addition to the 11 year Schwabe cycle, there have also been detected a 22 year Hale, 80 year Gleissberg, 200 year Suess, and 2,300 year Halstatt cycles of solar activity.
The 200 year Suess cycle is expected to reach minimum around 2040, leading Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Observatory in St. Petersburg to predict a long lasting, gradual decrease in global temperatures over the next century, regardless of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The primary effect solar cycles can have on the earth illustrates one of the biggest problems with global warming proponents. Computer models, often presented as irrefutable evidence for global warming, often ignore factors which have a much greater impact on global temperature than carbon dioxide concentration.
It also begs the question: Even if carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, what does it matter if the earth is cooling 5X faster because of the sun?
The great irony here is it is entirely possible that President Obama and congressional Democrats will impose massive new energy taxes on the nation in a misguided effort to combat global warming, while at the same time the earth is barreling towards another little ice age. >>>
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